Investors with beleaguered platform Selftrade could see their accounts transferred to Equiniti later this year, but could face higher charges as a result.

A statement on the Selftrade website revealed that following a strategic review, the platform was in talks to transfer its 200,000 accounts and brand to Equiniti.

The deal is expected to be completed in the last three months of 2014, subject to regulatory approval. but could see investors charged more to invest regularly and to hold an Isa account.

Self harm: Selftrade is in talks about a sale of its business.

Although there is not yet any further detail on how the transfer will work and what type of accounts investors will be moved to, there are some differences in pricing.

Selftrade investors are currently charged £12.50 for share dealing, the same as on Equiniti's Shareview platform.

This dealing charge is reduced to £1.50 for regular investors who trade each month on Selftrade, but it costs £1.75 per trade on Equiniti.

Selftrade investors have not previously had an annual fee to pay, only a £10.50 charge if there is no account activity in a quarter.

But those with an Equiniti Isa are charged 0.5 per cent a year, with a minimum of £24 and maximum of £90, so this could increase a Selftrade investor's fees if they are moved onto the same rates as Equiniti users.

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Selftrade has been through a tough period since the beginning of 2013.

It closed to new business in January 2013 to review its processes after talks with the financial regulator and last week it was criticised by clients for sending letters asking for the origins of their wealth and warning that if they fail to provide the information, along with documentary proof if requested, 'it may be necessary to apply restrictions to your account'.

Customers were been given 30 days to comply but are angry that any complaint they make in protest at the request need only be answered within 56 days, meaning they could be locked out of their accounts before their complaint is dealt with.

Selftrade is scrambling to collect the data to comply with anti-money laundering regulations, but has since reviewed how much information it requires.

It said in a statement:'Following customer feedback, we announced last week that we are reviewing our procedures, and we have now decided to simplify the process, whilst still meeting our regulatory requirements. As a result we will no longer require details of customers’ source of wealth.

'This means that customers, who have received our questionnaire will only have to provide details relating to their address and proof of identification and we do not require answers to any questions relating to their source of wealth. We are in the process of informing our customers of these changes and will be outlining what they need to do in due course.'

A spokesman said this process was unrelated to the sale talks.

The Selftrade sale statement, released on its website, said: ‘Following a strategic review, we have entered into exclusive discussions with the aim of transferring our customers and the Selftrade brand to Equiniti. This process is expected to conclude in Q4 2014, subject to regulatory approval.

‘We reviewed several offers from interested parties, having uppermost in our mind the need to closely match Selftrade's values, customer pricing and service proposition and allow for a seamless transition. We already work closely with Equiniti in a number of areas, including their ongoing provision of custody services to Selftrade and are confident this will be achieved.’

It said more information about how the transfer would work would appear on its website.

Selftrade is currently owned by of Societe Generale-owned French broker Boursorama, which announced today that it was exiting the UK.

The Equiniti business helps other firms with services such as share registration and company administration.

FUND JARGON BUSTER

The investment industry's world of abbreviations...Acc: Accumulation - any income generated by the fund like dividends or interest is automatically reinvested.Inc: Income - any income generated is distributed by the fund instead of being reinvested. Dis: Distribution - any income generated is distributed by the fund instead of being reinvested. R: Retail - the fund is aimed at ordinary investors. I/Inst: Institutional - the fund is aimed at corporate investors like pension funds. A, B, M, X etc: Different fund houses use letters for different things. Check with them what they stand for. NT/No trail: Some fund houses use this name on clean funds which carry no commissions for financial advisers, supermarkets or brokers, just the fee levied by the fund manager. But other fund houses use different letters - I, D or Y, for example - so you need to find out for yourself which are clean funds. Gr: Stands for gross. GBP/£: Fund denominated in pounds. EUR: Fund denominated in euros. USD/$: Fund denominated in US dollars. Compiled with online stockbroker The Share Centre